Filial-support laws

[skyhigh]

Perhaps some are aware of the Filial Support Laws, although I'm guessing most are not.

Either way, here is an interesting read.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/feeonly...rs-forced-to-pay-parents-long-term-care-bill/

 

[James Burke]

Yet another facet of the "financial cliff" we face.


JB

 

[Salmoneye]

I am very glad that my parents have been fastidious with their money and have forgone some luxuries in life now so as that they would never be a burden.

 

[Bigdawg]

I was sued in Tennessee for Jeff's hospital and doctor bills while trying to get his disability resolved. They didn't sue him because he had no means of income, but according to TN law I was legally responsible for any life-saving care he might need. If it had been a bill for a broken leg, they would have had to sue him. Because it was a life and death emergency care situation, and even though I signed NOTHING, I was legally responsible for those bills because it was life-saving care. I immediately sought legal counsel - which is how I found out about the law.

 

[Salmoneye]

Sorry, I am not up to speed. Is Jeff a partner? parent?

 

[wedosigns]

or son (dependant)?
under / over 18?

 

[Bigdawg]

Sorry - he would be my husband... he had no insurance, but the way the law read (or my understanding from the attorney) was that any first-tier dependent (spouse, parents, siblings and children) could be sued to pay for life-saving care.

Edited to add: I was careful NOT to sign anything (I didn't need to) for financial responsibility because we were waiting for his disability (heart patient)... which came through well after the lawsuit and ironically would have paid the bills.

 

[skyhigh]

According to the article, it can be your closest living relative. In the article, one case involved a nephew (patient had no children) that was sued for the expenses.

 

[anotherdog]

So you can save all of your life and then lose everything because of a sick relative?
Even if you yourself are fully insured.

Imagine a country where everyone was responsible for the care of the ill and unlucky alike, rather than abandoning the weakest and poorest to care for themselves. Taxes would be higher, but no higher than the extra cost of private healthcare insurance would be. I think of how many people in America who when they have an accident of get ill worry first about how they will pay rather than how they will heal.

You have an army to protect everyone, Police to enforce the law on everyone, why not hospitals that heal all?

 

[David Wright]

So you can save all of your life and then lose everything because of a sick relative?
Even if you yourself are fully insured.

Imagine a country where everyone was responsible for the care of the ill and unlucky alike, rather than abandoning the weakest and poorest to care for themselves. Taxes would be higher, but no higher than the extra cost of private healthcare insurance would be. I think of how many people in America who when they have an accident of get ill worry first about how they will pay rather than how they will heal.

You have an army to protect everyone, Police to enforce the law on everyone, why not hospitals that heal all?

The weakest and poorest do way better than the working class in the US.

 

[anotherdog]

The weakest and poorest do way better than the working class in the US.

The end of the American Empire.

If you ever read the histories of the Roman, Spanish, French, Dutch and English Empires, they all went the same way. Overhead became too high and they went broke.

 

[CES020]

The end of the American Empire.

If you ever read the histories of the Roman, Spanish, French, Dutch and English Empires, they all went the same way. Overhead became too high and they went broke.

You think making no one pay for anything that can't afford it is a better road to keeping us from going broke? We're going broke because we've promised more than we can provide. There's nothing left to give, yet there are people standing in line wanting their free piece of the pie instead of working for a living.

 

[CES020]

Just as a side note, I can see where some of that law makes sense. I helped an elderly lady last year. She lived alone and her house needed some work. Her worthless son wouldn't even come over and help her. I had to go buy fuel oil and put it in her tank so she could have heat in the winter.

Shortly after that, she fell and broke her hip. Someone came by and offered to buy her property. It's one of those old pieces of land that's now smack dab in the middle of nice houses.

She decided to sell but was in a nursing home rehabbing her hip. She gave the power of attorney to her son. They sold the house, put her in an apartment and then the son emptied her bank account because he said he was entitled to it.

Now she's broke and has no place to stay.

 

[bob]

...Imagine a country where everyone was responsible for the care of the ill and unlucky alike, rather than abandoning the weakest and poorest to care for themselves. Taxes would be higher, but no higher than the extra cost of private healthcare insurance would be. I think of how many people in America who when they have an accident of get ill worry first about how they will pay rather than how they will heal...

Rather imagine a country where no one could hold a mortgage on any part of anyone else's life.

Every human being is responsible for its own condition and no human being has any right to any portion of any other human being's life.

Every human being it what it has chosen to be. By what tortured reasoning should anyone be expected to accommodate someone else's choices?

 

[CanuckSigns]

that's messed up Stacy, I can't imagine the stress of what you an your partner were going through with his health issues, and then to add all the financial stress to that fire.

Very glad you resolved it in the end, but as an outsider looking in, it seems like a very stupid system.

 

[CES020]

Very glad you resolved it in the end, but as an outsider looking in, it seems like a very stupid system.

It might look stupid from the outside looking in because you're looking at people like Stacey who's husband had heart trouble.

Now, take a look at that same system when it's some crackhead or alcoholic, or some other behavior choice someone made that led them to be in the hospital. Should I have to pay because you're a drunk? Should I have to pay for your because you want to shoot heroin?

Let's be really clear. Hospitals in the US do NOT turn away people without healthcare, so don't think that's what happens.

One of my customers had a heart attack. Went to the hospital told them he didn't have insurance. They asked how much money he made, he told them, and they picked up the tab, gave him a card that allows him treatment and care at many doctors in the network, and it all cost him zero. It's a plan the hospital itself has for people that can't pay their bills, so it's not like people are just booted out to die.

 

[CanuckSigns]

It might look stupid from the outside looking in because you're looking at people like Stacey who's husband had heart trouble.

Now, take a look at that same system when it's some crackhead or alcoholic, or some other behavior choice someone made that led them to be in the hospital. Should I have to pay because you're a drunk? Should I have to pay for your because you want to shoot heroin?

Let's be really clear. Hospitals in the US do NOT turn away people without healthcare, so don't think that's what happens.

One of my customers had a heart attack. Went to the hospital told them he didn't have insurance. They asked how much money he made, he told them, and they picked up the tab, gave him a card that allows him treatment and care at many doctors in the network, and it all cost him zero. It's a plan the hospital itself has for people that can't pay their bills, so it's not like people are just booted out to die.

how is your customer any different from the heroin addict? in the end you still have to pay for his care through higher insurance fees, you don't think they absorb that cost do you?

I'm not going to change your mind, and you're not going to change mine, Living in a country with socialized healthcare is all I know, and I couldn't imagine living any other way.